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"THE LOVE THAT LIVED"
By John Elkins
c
Rosa Velda came into her room at
the hotel, shut the door and threw
off her heavy fur coat with a sigh of
satisfaction. She was the "star" of
the comic opera playing a week's
stand in the western city. After di
vesting herself of hat and wrap she
took down a comfortable kimona, in
tending to take a rest The matinee
was just over and she felt the need
of some relaxation before the even
ing performance. As she stretched
aerself on the couch she became
aware of the doleful tones of a violin
olayed by an amateurish performer.
"Heavens!" she said to herself. "If
I have to listen to that I'll go mad!
It's in the next room, too!"
She tried to think what she could
do. She would ask them to change
her room; but here were her things
all unpacked and her maid wouldn't
appear until evening, as she had let
her go out to buy some necessary
articles for her. Well, she would have
ko erin and bear it.
Next she became aware that the
boy or girl, or whoever the of
fender was, was trying to play one
Df her songs. It had a haunting mel
ody and was called "The Love That
Lived." She liked it better than any
thing else she sang in the opera, and
it brought her most applause. The
player in the next room would get
through the first two bars success
fully, fall off on the wrong note on
the third and come to complete dis
aster in the fourth. But he did not
give it up. He seemed possessed with
an almost uncanny determination to
succeed. Evidently he knew he was
not getting the air, for each time he
struck a different combination of
notes, as though "feeling for the
tune."
"He's trying to play it by ear," she
thought, "and he can't quite recall."
The repeated stumbles and fail
ures, the torturme of hpr beloved
song, finally became unbearable. She
took a sudden resolve and rapped on
the wall. The noise ceased.
"Look here!" she called. "I'll sing
that for you. Now try to get it
right" And without waiting for any
response, she began.
She sang a phrase or two at a
time and waited for him to play it If
it was not quite correct she went
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Tried to Think What She Could Do.
over and over the notes until he had
it perfectly. She went on patiently,
giving him the air bit by bit until he
had it all. Then she heard him play
it all through, correcting him only in
one bar.
"Now may I thank you?" came a
man's voice through the partition.
"It's all right," she laughed. "Will
you do me a little favor?"
"Anything you ask," was the very
emnhatic resDonse
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